


The Princess and the Guardsman

by wwblb



Series: The Princess and the Guardsman [1]
Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-05
Updated: 2013-05-05
Packaged: 2017-12-10 11:01:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/785312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wwblb/pseuds/wwblb





	The Princess and the Guardsman

Once upon a time their was a young princess and her even younger suitor. Every day between lunch and second lessons Princess Aliea would sneak down to the gardens just outside the blacksmith and play in the flowers with her friend Issac. Her father allowed this, finding the little blonde boy trailing at her heels cute and of little harm to his daughter.

As it stood, it was hard for her to make friends with her busy schedule and limited access to children because of her role. So King Malcom allowed his daughter her little admirer friend and thought in his best moods that they would be cute together as adults, commoner or not.

Little Aliea cherished her friend, but as a grown up little six year old she did not return his amorous feelings, he was only four after all, but it never hurt their friendship. As of late she was becoming more focused on other things than the little boy with a crush, weird things were happening to her and she wasn’t sure what to do. In their world magic was forbidden, since it was only ever used to do evil, mages were vilified, treated as the biggest evils in the land.

If a mage child manifested, they disappeared and never returned, even the young children knew this. So when Aliea noticed her glasses freezing at her touch and scraps of paper burning it up when she was angry she knew she was in trouble. She has dreams, the most wonderful dreams of nice old women who told her magic was not evil, it was not to be feared. Still she was afraid to tell anyone, even her little friend. After a few weeks he noticed her usually cheerful face was sullen and she no longer smiled when he found her favorite flowers in the field.

“What is wrong Princess?” he asked shyly. “Nothing, nothing little one” she’d reply. Finally he caught her crying over a dead flower, someone had trampled it. “Why do you cry Princess?” he demanded. She tried to run away, but he held her wrist tightly with his tiny fingers. “Tell me Princess!” he demanded, the slightest lisp on his r. “I can fix it!” she cried out. “Fix the flower?” he asked confused. “Yes, I can fix it, but if I do….people will think I am evil” she added slowly.

“Fixing a flower is not evil, show me!” he said excited. “Okay, but it is a secret okay? You can never ever ever tell anyone!” she made him promise. Once assured he wouldn’t tell she took the small crushed flower in him palm and whispered quietly. In amazement the little boy watched as the flower filled again with a bright yellow and all the dents and tears repaired. “Princess! That is amazing!” he cried out looking at the now perfect flower.

“I can do it to dried flowers too, no matter how long, I practiced with my parent’s wedding bouquet! I can put them back too, so no one will know” she explained, drying the flower before him. “Do you want to keep it?” she asked, a giant weight of her shoulders after finally telling someone her secret. The blonde nodded happily tucking the dried flower into his pocket carefully. “Thank you Princess!” he said gleefully, “what else can you do…” Aliea smiled and grabbed his hand, finally she could be free, for a little while. 

Issac and Aliea played long into the afternoon, giggling at the little tricks of her magic. As the sun began to set the little boy’s face contorted into a mix of worry and hope. “What is it Issac?” she asked confused. “My mother…she is sick…do you think…magic?” he questioned with a trembling lip.

Eyes big and worried Aliea gasped “Oh I don’t know Issac I….flowers are not like people!” “Will you try?” he begged. “Of course I’ll try” the princess assured hoping she could do something to help her one and only friend. The spirits of her dreams spoke softly as she held Issac’s mother’s hand, pale and lifeless as she lay softly gasping in her bed. “The winter illness?” she asked confused. “She never got better” Issac filled in. “I…I can’t save her” Aliea spouted out eyes full of tears.

“I can’t save her but…I can get her to wake up, last longer, so you can say goodbye” she explained shakily. “Anything!” Issac exclaimed happily, the idea of one more day with his mother awake seeming perfect. “I’ll be really tired after, you will have to take me home, then I can’t visit for a while okay?” she told him. Issac nodded, excited to see more magic and also to talk to him mother again. with his mother awake seeming perfect. “I’ll be really tired after, you will have to take me home, then I can’t visit for a while okay?” she told him.

Issac nodded, excited to see more magic and also to talk to him mother again. Aliea took a deep breath and closed her eyes concentrating hard. Issac’s mother Leah groaned a little, the first noise she’d made in weeks. “Is she?” he cried out excited. “Give her a little while to wake up, but yes, she will be able to talk soon” Aliea explained, swaying a little on her small feet. “Princess!” he cried rushing to her aid the best his tiny body could. 

”Take me to my bedroom, then stay with your mother, I’ll visit again once I’m not tired anymore” Aliea wheezed feeling lightheaded from the intense mana exhaustion. Issac nodded, carefully leading the princess slowly from his home. 

Aliea could barely keep her eyes open by the time her tiny keeper got her to bed. Sleepily she said “Go, play with your mommy” before falling into a deep slumber. Issac faltered a moment, leaning close to kiss the princess on her forehead. “Aliea…” he stumbled over her name, knowing it was improper “I promise I will love you forever, one day, maybe you can love me too.” Seeing she was resting comfortably Issac turned and ran for his mother, hoping to get back to her before she awoke. 

Aliea’s spell gave Leah three good weeks with her family. She was strong enough to walk and they spent every afternoon in the fields. His father was so happy he couldn’t stop smiling despite the tears of her impending death. They had both give up hope of ever hearing her voice let alone walking with her at sunset. 

When the strength left her, she could tell and she gave her husband and son the real goodbyes they deserved. Issac was sad to see her go, but he wanted to thank Aliea for what she had given him so after they had her funeral he started looking for her out in the fields. Several days passed without any sign of her and he began to worry ‘where was his sweet Princess?’

No one paid the little boy any mind as he started trolling the corridors for signs of her. Clutching a bouquet of Aliea’s favorite flowers Issac pounded on her door to no avail. Downtrodden Issac left the little yellow plants at her door and vowed to return. And since the flowers had disappeared he hoped it meant she would be getting them eventually. For years he did this leaving her a special something every week. Always leaving a little present hidden in the wrappings.

At first they were mostly crude drawings, but as he got older and learned new skills he began to carve wooden figurines, draw more sophisticated pictures, or leave her her favorite treats. He wanted to signal to her it was him, but he couldn’t be sure someone wasn’t going through her mail, so he kept out any obvious signs of her magic or their connection. For the longest time he didn’t get to see more than glimpses of her in her tower window, a sad look on her face, but around her 8th birthday she began to make public appearances again.

However, her guard had been increased ten fold, she no longer had run of the castle and it was impossible for him to get close to her. It was then he vowed to join the guard so he could once again be close enough to hear her sweet voice. Knowing his father would not approve, he hid his plans and spent all his spare time practicing with the swords he made. On his sixteenth birthday he appeared at the captain of the guards door and begged to join. The man was old, tired and just shook his head. “I’m sorry there are not openings, but if you put in some time in the King’s army, I’m sure we could do something for you.

Is there a specific post you were hoping for?” he asked openly. “I’ve always admired the princess, I’d be honored to keep her safe” Issac said calmly, having practiced for this question in the mirror a million times. The captain gave him a small smile “Aye, that can be arranged then young Hawke.” 

His father was livid when he found out what Issac had done, screaming at him for wasting the peaceful life he and his mother had given him. “But Da, I have too! It’s the only way!” he protested as he packed the meager things. The only thing he regretted was he would no longer be able to send Aliea her flowers, but he hoped she’d understand. 

The army life was hard on Issac. Thanks to a sudden outburst in the West a war had broken out and Issac was gone for five long years. He wrote Aliea almost every day, but he couldn’t convince himself to send a single letter. 

The king noticed a sadness in the princess a few weeks after the war had started, he even tried to send her the flowers that had stopped coming, but they did nothing to cheer her spirits. She spent her free time with the orphans or on her studies, but rarely did she smile. Then one day some five odd years since her only friend had abandoned her a small bouquet arrived at her doorstep.

It was a hand picked assortment of the prettiest blooms of her favorite yellow flower. She felt a little jump in her heart as she unwrapped it, would it be from him? The artist friend she’d lovingly nick named Michelangelo. Five years it had been since she’d received anything from him, she went from being angry to sad about it on a constant basis. Joy however filled her heart when a tight stack of drawings rewarded her.

Dozens of pictures of her, many stained with mud, rewarded her careful unwrapping. Michel wasn’t gone! He didn’t abandon her! He’d been in the war, why didn’t she think of that? So many young men were taken away, it made sense that her sweet artist would too, even if he seemed better suited for a less violent life. She weeped with joy as she saw her visage drawn over and over again, knowing he hadn’t laid eyes on her in years by the time some of these were drawn. A weight liften off of her shoulders and the princess smiled once again. 

Issac, still in uniform went straight from Aliea’s quarters to the Captain’s office asking for what he’d been promised. “I heard you did well out there Hawke, I’ll see what I can do about your request, the Princess’s guard was it?” pausing to check for Issac’s nod. “It’ll take a few weeks and you have complete some special…training before you can be in the care of the king’s heir” he added. “Yes sir” was the curt reply of the now giddy warrior. 

During his training Issac heard rumors that the princess had been morose and withdrawn during the war, but with it’s ending she had perked back up. He learned that even through her sadness she had spent her time serving the people, playing with orphans, giving to the poor, but to his chagrin he learned she remained friendless, people kept at bay by her many guards. 

Two months later Issac finally pulled his first guard duty with the princess and he was so excited he spent most the afternoon in town getting cleaned up for the occasion. He had his scruff trimmed back into a respectable beard and mustache, and his tussled blond locks just long enough to be combed back with his fingers.

Even his father had to begrudgingly admit he looked at home in the uniform of a guardsman and wished him good luck with his dream, just happy to have him home once again. Sure his sweet Aliea would know it to be him with a look Issac strode up the her door and knocked. “Yes?” she said softly, hair mussed from lying on her bed reading.


End file.
